If you were God, what choices would you make -
a thought experiment - by Aravin b

-
We gratefully acknowledge the writer Aravind B

If you were God...

Just imagine that you got the opportunity to play God. So, you are
sitting high up there in the heavens and looking down (no pun
intended) upon the mortals on Earth. You know that everything and
everyone on the planet Earth have had their ultimate origin in you
and that they all will finally merge back in you. You also know that
you created the world just for fun - and so everyone there should
happily enjoy the game called life. But what do you see when you
look at the planet? It is definitely not what you envisaged. So, you
decide to leave your heavenly abode and go to Earth to set things
right. How do you do it?

Now this is the point where each one
should start answering for himself/herself. And here are the
questions that seek your answer.

1. Since you are the master of time and have the ability to be in
what the world considers as the ‘past’ or the ‘future’, what
era/time-period would you pick for your descent? Would it be 5,000
BC or 10,000 BC? Would it be 2,089AD or 3,500AD?

2. How long do you think you will need to accomplish the
‘setting-the-world-right’ business? That will determine your
life-span on Earth. Remember you are God! So, even a lifetime of
200-250 years is possible for you.

3. Where on earth would you choose to be born? Will it be in a
politically powerful country like the US? Or will being born in a
poor African nation that is in dire straits help? Remember, starting
off with influence and power could make the task easier.

4. What kind of family would you choose to be born into? Will it
be a priest’s family or would it be a better option to be a
President’s son/daughter? What would be the perfect family to launch
the ‘world-changing’ mission?

5. How much money would you gift yourself? All said and done, man
seems to be most influential among all and money has a sway over
him.

Please let us answer these questions to ourselves before we
proceed. Believe it or not, our answers will be very insightful to
us in the end.

The 5 questions...

When the choices are given, it indeed becomes difficult to play
God!

How a friend made his choices

I have a dear friend, Raju. His answers and choices for the above
questions are really unique and something that got me surprised. I
shall present his answers below and you will see for yourself why I
was almost stunned with his answers.

1. For his birth, he picked the era that saw a great bloodshed -
the time of the two World Wars.

2. He did not want any extra number of years in his lifespan.
“The average lifespan of any human being would do”, was his answer.

3. He picked India as the country of birth. I think maybe he was
influenced by the fact that almost all religions and Gods found
acceptance in this nation.

4. (This was one surprising answer) He wanted to be born in the
family of a common man - a person without any ‘ specialty’!

5. (Another surprising answer) Raju did not want even a single
penny made available for him. He said that money would only be
incidental for the job and there would be no shortage of it.

An Avatar’s choices

I must confess now that I have been camouflaging something all this
while. But let me also state that it was done with a purpose. My
friend Raju who I said made surprising choices is also my
best-friend, my Master, my Guide and my God, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba. Sathyanarayana Raju was the name He was given as a child. And
the choices He made for achieving the mission of “repairing the
ancient highway connecting God to man” seem “illogical” at first
glance.

Those that have experienced Him have seen His transformative
powers - the ability to transform mind and matter such that
ultimately it results in the transformation of the heart! Having
experienced those divine powers and such a transformation of heart
myself, I often wondered as to what could be the “Master’s plan” in
choosing such ‘bad’ circumstances and conditions for birth.

Let’s face it.

When Swami was born in 1926, the world was being torn asunder by
the aftermath of the 1st World War and the potential preparation for
the 2nd one! Puttaparthi, the village in which He chose to be born
was not even on the postal map of India. Now, among the several maps
made, the postal map is the most comprehensive because it reaches
out to the smallest and remotest villages too. However, people from
Puttaparthi had to go to nearby Bukkapatnam to collect their
letters! No motor vehicle had ever touched the dusty grounds of the
hamlet. Baba was almost the youngest among several children and was
part of a huge joint family which struggled to provide Him two
square meals a day. He had only one pair of school uniform which He
washed Himself, draping His body in a towel as He waited for the
clothes to dry. He used thorns as pins!

All one has to do is to pick up His biography, Sathyam Shivam
Sundaram (which translates as Truth Auspiciousness Beauty) and read
through all the hard work He put in to build an empire of love,
service and sadhana from scratch when He could have easily used
divine powers to have done it much faster. He spent so many years
interacting with people and that too people of the ‘common kind’! He
discussed with them their little careers, relationships and
problems. He healed them of headaches and heartaches. And He did not
seem in any hurry.

What kind of Divine planning is that when transformation of the
world is the mission?

(Please note - All the photos used below are taken
from a classic book - Love is My Form - a masterpiece of
biographical work done by Sri. Padmanabhan. It is a personal
recommendation from me for all the devotees who wish to savor the
lovely story of Swami's childhood. The photos there are simply
unbelievable and out of the world. The first 25 years of Swami, till
1950 is covered in this 600-pages coffee-table book. In fact,
Mr.Padmanabhan became Dr.Padmanabhan because of this humongous,
painstaking effort of collating pictures and experiences. The book
can be easily ordered from the Sai Towers site. I think it costs
about $50.)

A glimpse into the early life of Sathya Sai

A view of how Puttaparthi looked at the time of Swami's birth.

Source: Love Is My Form (LIMF)

The tiny, ramshackle house of Easwaramma, Swami's mother.

Source: LIMF

The living area of the home in which Swami lived as a child in
Kamalapuram. There is no ventilation or light in this little
home!

Source: LIMF

After declaration of Avatarhood, Swami mingled freely with the
masses, as one among them. Here, He is seen with the Mudaliar
family.

Today, Puttaparthi is well connected by road,
rail and air. From Bangalore, you take a National Highway and
then a State Highway to each it.

The Divine rationale

The answer comes via a quote by one of America’s most quoted
writers,
William Arthur Ward, who says this about teachers:

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher
explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher
inspires."

Place this along with one of Swami’s oft quoted statements,“My life is My message.”and the answer strikes.

Yes! Swami could have done everything with a wave of His hand,
using Divine powers. But then, the world would have only sat and
applauded - even criticized maybe. He did not want that. He wanted
everyone to walk the path He walked. Thus, He embodied all the
teachers within Himself - He inspired, demonstrated, explained and
told too! He showed how miracles could be achieved simply through
pure intent and selflessness. Thus, though for the first 65 years of
His life He had nothing colossal against His name, within a decade
after that sprang up multiple social welfare projects of a magnitude
the world had never witnessed before!

And even today, such acts of great service and selflessness
continue unabated, in His physical absence! The unbelievable
home-building service in Trinidad and Tobago is one example. Then
there is the Village Integrated Programme that has been taken up in
right earnest in many states of India to make every village a model
village. There are innovative water-supply and educational projects
as is the mobile medical project.There are examples galore because
He inspires people to lead life the way He did. He teaches that a
man who gives up selfishness completely, becomes Love which is
nothing but God. (Man - Self = God) Therefore when asked,
“Are you God?”

His response always has been,

“I am God. But so are you. The only difference is that I know it
but you don’t.”

The answer about His ‘poor’ birth choices is so evident. His life
in itself being His message is such an inspiration that every one of
our hearts touched by him yearns,

“Let me make my life His message.”

One of the root causes for all kinds of pain and suffering in the
world today is man’s selfishness. Even if we become God, how can we
ever wipe away this selfishness by making selfish choices - of being
born in a rich country, to influential parents, with lots of money
and great power? Just as an incense stick is needed to wipe out a
stench, selflessness is necessary to remove selfishness.

And that is why Swami’s choices seem ‘bad’ - because they have
been made selflessly! Selflessness is not something we consider when
we are making the ‘best’ choices because selflessness seems so
defeatist! But selflessness is the path that Swami took and millions
have taken after Him. What better way to ensure that the world is
set right than having an entire generation that is inspired to do
what their God did?

Mission accomplished! Right?

Parting Thoughts

Whenever we see any avatar or person of God - Rama, Krishna, Buddha,
Jesus, the Prophet - they have preached no doubt, but more than
anything else, they have led lives that inspired. They have always
inspired and demonstrated too. So, I feel that if I am God, the
choices I make will follow the historical precedents - I will be the
goodness that I want to see in my world.

Now comes the catch. I
started off this article with, "If you were God..." The Truth is
that all of us, in reality, are the Divine spark! So, I must start
being the good that I want to see in my world - right?